PENAMPANG: MCA Penampang with the help of United Pasokmomugum Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO) yesterday presented eight villages in the Kapayan constituency with financial assistance to organize their annual Pesta Kaamatan (Harvest Festival) celebration.
The eight kampungs are Nagasiba/Sindanan, Kepayan, Kaidupan, Mogoputi/Puluduk, Tunoh, Hungab, Kobusak and Ganang. The financial donation was handed over to the representatives from the Village Development and Securtiy Committee (JKKK) of the villages.
According to MCA Penampang chief Datuk Paul Kong, the division, in collaboration with UPKO Penampang, is providing financial contribution to the JKKKs of the eight villages in the Kapayan constituency to help them organize the Kaamatan celebration.
MCA, he pointed out, is ‘responsible’ for the Kapayan seat as it had been allocated the state constituency in the past three elections while UPKO was given the Moyog state and Penampang parliamentary seats.
However, both parties lost their seats in the 13th general election, which is why MCA and UPKO are now working closely to take the initiative to get the ball rolling in preparation for the next general election.
“We do not want to be rushing about only at the last moment as it will be too late. Hopefully, if things go well, we can win back all the seats,” Kong stressed.
UPKO Penampang chief Datuk Donald Mojuntin, who was also present at the donation presentation yesterday, said that the collaboration was started among the leaders of UPKO and MCA Penampang.
He however stressed that UPKO and MCA are doing this not to exclude the other component parties as they recognize the fact that as the parties with the ‘responsibility’, they must take the lead in Penampang.
“Basically, we felt that it is our responsibility as the custodian for Penampang, Moyog and Kapayan on behalf of the government to lead. We decided to sit down and re-look at what actually happened because apart from the so-called tsunami, there must be other factors affecting us as our candidates from the BN lost in the three seats in Penampang.
“It started from there and we thought that Kaamatan is a good time to launch our cooperation and to tell the rakyat that we are still around despite the fact that we might not have an elected representative and are still here to do what we ought to do in the beginning which is to bring prosperity and development to Penampang.
“But at the same time it is of utmost concern to us that we maintain our culture in Penampang and the multi-cultural face of the district. We want to keep the unity in Penampang among the different races residing in the district. We want Penampang to be the prime example of a place which is so diverse in terms of population but is united… I think it is a good idea to start with this Kaamatan month,” he said.
Donald also felt that BN component parties need to work together to regain the confidence and trust of the people in Penampang.
“We acknowledge and respect the rakyat’s decision but at the same time that does not mean that we will rest on our laurels and surrender. On the other hand, we have made a conscious decision to see how to make the rakyat believe in us, have confidence in us by perhaps looking at us as a team representing them in Penampang.
“These are all things that we felt we should do and I am very happy in my role as UPKO Penampang chief that this type of relationship is getting stronger,” he said, adding that the idea is for the two leading parties in Penampang, MCA and UPKO to work together and afterwards work hand in hand with the other BN components in Penampang.
Meanwhile, Kong, who lauded MCA Penampang deputy chief Francis Goh for his hard work in sourcing the funds for the donation, said that Kapayan is a mixed constituency with the Chinese and the Sino-Kadazan making up almost 50 per cent of the population there.
“The KadazanDusun Murut community is about 40 per cent and the remaining 10 per cent comprise of other races and ethnicity. The Chinese celebrate Chinese New Year and the KDMs celebrate their Harvest Festival.
“So with that in mind, MCA Penampang wanted to organize a Harvest Festival celebration for the KDMs but due to time constraint, it is not possible to do it this year. We will try to make that a reality next year as we want to do it on a big scale like what we are doing annually for the Chinese New Year,” he said.
Donald, who also thanked Francis for his hard work, said that the Pesta Kaamatan open house hosted by MCA Penampang is something to look forward to.
“I think we need to sit down and plan what is the most appropriate way to do this,” he said.